Gromada is a

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, w ...

word meaning "gathering", "group", or "assembly". In the

Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, formally known as the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and, after 1791, as the Commonwealth of Poland, was a bi- confederal state, sometimes called a federation, of Poland and Lithuania ru ...

, the term referred to a

village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred ...

organization which embraced all the inhabitants of a village and acted as a local authority, as well as overseeing

tax A tax is a compulsory financial charge or some other type of levy imposed on a taxpayer (an individual or legal entity) by a governmental organization in order to fund government spending and various public expenditures (regional, local, or n ...

payments. In this sense the gromada developed between the 16th and 18th centuries, and continued to function in Congress Poland. Their chiefs took the title of and were elected by the local population. The gromada continued to function in

interwar Poland The Second Polish Republic, at the time officially known as the Republic of Poland, was a country in Central and Eastern Europe that existed between 1918 and 1939. The state was established on 6 November 1918, before the end of the First World ...

, as a subdivision of a gmina. In

communist Poland The Polish People's Republic ( pl, Polska Rzeczpospolita Ludowa, PRL) was a country in Central Europe that existed from 1947 to 1989 as the predecessor of the modern Republic of Poland. With a population of approximately 37.9 million nea ...

between 1954 and 1972, gromadas constituted the lowest tier of local government, taking over the role previously played by gminas. A gromada would generally consist of several villages, but they were smaller units than the gminas had been. In 1973 gminas were reintroduced and gromadas abolished. At present the smallest unit of local government in rural Poland (subordinate to the gmina) is the . A gromada is a former Polish unit of local government e.g. * Gromada Osiek * Gromada Tursko Wielkie

See also